A World of Warcraft potion makes cross-faction chat possible

Let's end this war with words.

Are you a night elf curious about what orcs chat about? Maybe you’re a tauren who’d love to hear some dwarven poetry. Good news, xenophiles! A recent World of Warcraft hotfix introduced a potion that lets you understand members of the opposing faction, hopefully showing us that we’re all really quite similar, so we should put down our giant axes and massive shoulder pads and give Sylvanas a timeout.

The Elixir of Tongues can be purchased in Dalaran’s Underbelly from the Fizzi Liverzapper; indeed, it’s the only thing you can purchase from her. Maybe she should diversify if she’s going to make a living out of selling experimental potions. It’s just shy of 30 gold and will let you understand the common language of the opposing faction for one hour.

For most of World of Warcraft’s life, factions haven’t been able to easily communicate without add-ons, which might explain why they’re always at each other’s throats. If you’re a human listening to an orc, you won’t be able to understand a word—it’s all gibberish. The positive side of that is you can’t see the orc saying mean things about your mum.

If you drink the potion, you won’t suddenly be able to speak in the language of the other faction, but you’ll be able to understand enemy players. If you want to hold a proper conversation, that other player will also need to quaff down an elixir, and then all the universe’s mysteries will suddenly be revealed. Or you can say hello.

Putting it in Dalaran was a good idea, since it’s neutral ground where Horde and Alliance players already congregate, if not as much as they did in Wrath of the Lich King and Legion. Players have also been taking trips to Stormwind and Orgrimmar to look for conversations instead of fights.

It turns out that the elixir has been waiting to be put to use for a very long time, too. World of Warcraft game designer Jeremy Feasel said that it’s been in the game since Classic as an unused alchemy recipe. It’s been waiting for over a decade.

Fun fact: the Elixir of Tongues has been in the game since Classic, an ancient alchemy recipe that never made it. Until today, it had the description text “This potion has no effect until we put languages in.” You finally made it, little buddy.December 14, 2018

You can gulp it down now by heading to the Underbelly. Here’s the full patch notes for the hotfix.